Luke and Grace: Directors Cut
by youcrazything
Summary: Collection of short fics taking place between episodes, detailing the growth of LG's realtionship beyond the show. POST JUST SAY NO IS UP.
1. When Luke Met Grace

Title: When Luke Met Grace

Disclaimer: Not mine, blah blah blah, you all know this one upside down and backwards.

Summary: Luke and Grace meet, but of course, its never as simple as that. Set Pre-Series.

A/N: Its written in third person, coz I can't write first person AT ALL, but it is technically in Luke's POV.

Luke checked his schedule for the third time in a row, making sure that the classroom he was about to enter was the right one. The first day at a new school, just when he was first starting high school on top of that, was intimidating. He took in a deep breathe and walked in the room, glancing around briefly at the surroundings.

There was a blonde woman in a white lab coat standing at the front of the room, looking much more excited than he expected any teacher to be on the first day of school. She smiled wide at him and practically sang out to him to pick a seat, being sure to remind him that it would be his lab group for the rest of the year.

_No pressure or anything_, he thought to himself, walking slowly down the aisle of lab tables, hoping to find a group worth working with. As he approached the second table to the back, he overhead the two students seated there excitedly discussing atomic theory.

_Bingo_, he thought, _someone else who isn't here just for the AP credit._

He stepped up to their table and politely introduced himself. The tall, skinny girl smiled brightly at him and introduced herself as Glynis. The curly haired boy next to her smirked and offered a hand to Luke.

"At last, male companionship," Glynis smacked him in the arm. "Not that current companionship is lacking in any way. You can call me the Friedman. Everyone does."

Glynis rolled her eyes," If by everyone, you mean **you, **then sure."

Luke laughed, earning twin smiles from his new lab partners, and took the empty seat. Maybe this school wouldn't be so bad after all.

Suddenly, a brown haired boy brushed past, his messenger bag bumping into glassware set out on the table.

"Whoa," Luke said, hand shooting out to steady the beaker before it could fall.

"Sorry," the boy mumbled absently as he continued on towards the table in the back.

"Who's that?" Luke asked Friedman curiously as he glanced back at the boy.

"Who, Space boy?" Friedman asked with a laugh. "Adam Rove. Arcadia High's resident pothead. Spends most of his time in his own personal little drug filled world. It's best just to let him be."

"Oh," Luke said to himself, feeling slightly bad for the isolated boy despite himself. He didn't have time to ponder his sympathy due to another person crashing into the same beaker he had saved moments before. Luke was caught off guard this time and turned to see a glass shard flying at him. Before he could react, it hit him straight in the face. His hands instantly shot up to his face, pulling the small piece of glass out. He watched as it clattered to the table, splattering small spots of blood across the surface.

The teacher's voice rang out across the room, "Miss Polk. I see you're making an entrance as usual."

Luke touched his fingers to his cheek and pulled back when he felt something wet. He stared at his bloodstained fingers with wide eyes.

"Thought I'd be helpful and demonstrate the need for safety goggles," the blonde girl replied without missing a beat, looking back at the older woman defiantly.

The teacher noticed Luke's injury as she came up behind the insolent student. The sarcastic girl was oblivious to the situation and wandered back to sit with the stoner kid.

The teacher took a closer look and declared, "You should go to the nurse. Miss Polk, this is your mess, please take him."

"I have a policy against babysitting," she snarked, making no move to get up.

The teacher looked absolutely exasperated and asked Luke, "Will you be alright going alone?"

"I don't know where it is," Luke answered meekly, embarrassed by all the attention directed at him. "I'm new here."

"Miss Polk, I could just write you a detention for leaving shattered glass lying about," the teacher warned. Luke heard the girl let out a frustrated sigh behind him. She passed by him without looking at him and motioned impatiently for him to follow her.

He hurried to catch up to her, all while trying to keep his still flowing blood under control. His movement caused her to glance towards him and she saw how bloody his hands were getting. She let out an expletive and turned towards him. He could have sworn he saw a flash of guilt pass over her features as she took in the aftermath of her grand entrance into the classroom.

"Here," she said in a slightly less abrasive tone, pulling a couple sheets of tissue paper from her jacket's pocket and putting it up to his bloody cheek.

"Thanks," he said, bringing his hand up to hold the tissue against his cheek. She quickly pulled away, clearly uncomfortable with the physical contact. She hastily spun on her heal and continued to walk down the hallway. He walked silently beside her for a moment before clearing his throat.

"I-I'm Luke," he told her, wincing slightly as his voice cut awkwardly through the silence. "Luke Girardi."

"Good for you," she replied, uninterested. Luke blinked, taken aback by the rude comment. What had happened to the girl who was nearly concerned about him from just a minute ago?

"Is Polk your last name?" he prodded. She stopped short in front of a door and spun to face him.

"Look, **Girardi, **I'm not looking to make pals alright? I'm putting off a reunion with Price as long as possible and the first day is way too damn early for a detention. Even for me. Otherwise I wouldn't have even bothered to get up this morning, let alone play babysitter to some scrawny little freshman. I don't play nice with people, so don't be expecting more 'charity' anytime soon."

"Sorry, I just-" Luke apologized, wondering why he was even still attempting to talk to her when every bit of his common sense was screaming: _this girl is trouble!_

"Ugh," Grace grunted in disgust before taking off.

"Nice meeting you too," Luke murmured to himself after she was long gone.


	2. Chemicals

Title: Chemicals

Summary: A chemistry equation mocks Grace. Luke is Arcadia's geek version of superman, even though he stutters a lot. Set post Pilot.

A/N: Again, first person doesn't exist in my world, but this is Grace's POV. Kind of.

"_All of the things that I want to say just aren't coming out right  
I'm tripping on words  
You've got my head spinning  
I don't know where to go from here"_

"_You and Me" by Lifehouse_

"You might need to start over again," Lishack suggested as she danced around behind Grace, checking her chemical equation. "Clear the slate, get a fresh start."

Grace sneered at the teachers back as she pranced back up towards the front of the class and Adam snickered, earning him a nasty look as well. After Adam was silenced and turned back to his own problem, Grace rolled her eyes at the paper, sure that the stupid equation was mocking her.

"Do you, um, I could-"Grace looked up to find the blonde geek who sat in front of her turned to face her as he tried to stutter out an offer of help. "Can I take a look at what you have?"

Those geeky types, always rushing in like academic superheroes to help fellow students in need. Must be the reason she always felt like breaking bones any time they got within two feet of her. However, he didn't seem to have the intelligence superiority complex the others did; he seemed sincere. Okay, so he seemed like the nicest person she'd ever met, but that didn't mean she had to like him. Or tolerate him. Or acknowledge that he even existed. Oh, what the hell, it couldn't hurt for him to look at the damn thing.

"Sure, whatever," She agreed with a roll of her eyes. He fumbled his way over to her, shoving his glasses up the bridge of his nose as they threatened to fall off. She handed him the paper and slumped down on her table. He looked at it a moment before venturing as close to her as he dared, which to his credit, was a lot closer than most would.

"There's only one oxygen in ethyl alcohol," he pointed her out, not a hint of snobbery in his voice. That was the reason she didn't snap at him; tell him to speak freaking English, she told herself. Since when did she start reasoning about ethical treatment of geeks? Used to be, if they annoyed her, she chased them off, simple as that. Fortunately, for him, before she could reconsider that act of kindness, he caught on and gave her a shy smile.

"That two, right there, shouldn't be there," he restated as he pointed to a spot on her page.

_He translates_, she noted mentally. _My kind of geek. Wait, since when is any type of geek is **my** type?_

She tried her best to shake the weird thoughts she was having and erased the two he had pointed out. Adam was looking back and forth between the geek practically bent over the table and her, no doubt surprised the geek had stood there that long without getting any form of '_Now scram, freak!'_.

She glanced up at the boy who still stood towering over her as he continued on.

"Better, but there's one last thing," he encouraged. "The law of conversation states that-"

"Oh, cram it with the laws," she finally said, successfully shutting him up and earning a fleeting hurt look from him. Was that a twinge of guilt she felt?

And Luke was still there, re-gathering himself and starting to talk yet again.

"Okay, since there are six carbons on this side, we need six carbons on this side too," he explained, pointing with his pencil as he talked. "So, if we put a two here… and here..."

Grace studied Luke out of the corner of her eye as he leaned in to write on her paper, realizing that, yeah, she had felt a little guilty snapping at him. And he wasn't helping by being all patient and helping her and leaning in so close that it made her nervous.

She stopped listening all together and marveled that she could probably count his eyelashes if she wanted to. She suddenly felt very, very uncomfortable.

"Is taking up my breathing space a part of the formula too?" she asked, leaning back a bit to get away from him. Being near him made her think strange thoughts; thoughts she was sure couldn't be her own.

"Oh, uh, sorry," he stammered, and she swore his cheeks turned a light shade of pink as he backed away from the table, and with it, her. He looked as if he wanted to say more, but was afraid of getting snapped at again.

She rolled her eyes yet again and prodded, "Spill it, four eyes."

"If you want… I-I'd be more than- I mean I could tutor you."

"Tutor?" Grace's eyebrows shot up so high they nearly cleared her hairline. "As in actively try to do well in school?"

Luke shrugged and opened his mouth to say more, but she cut him off with a snort.

"I don't think so."

He looked pretty disappointed, but still stayed in the same spot, as if he had grown roots and become implanted there. Was there nothing she could say to make him leave her alone? A million insults flew through her head, none appealing to her. Finally she just leaned her forehead into her hand, hiding from him. It seemed ignoring him did the trick because his feet shuffled across the floor as he moved back to his seat. She pressed her fingers against her now aching temple.

"I need more caffeine," she muttered.

"Unchallenged," came Adam's reply from her side as he rubbed sleepily at his eyes.


	3. Aftershave

Title: Aftershave

Summary: Luke's feeling wimpy, so naturally, Joan teases him. Luke also gets a really, really bad idea on how to get Grace's attention. Post The Fire and the Wood.

Luke grunted as he pushed himself up off the floor for the fifth time, only further proving himself worthy of weakling status. He heard the sound of feet clomping up the stairs and let himself slump to the ground as Joan's giggles reached his ears. He turned on his side, panting slightly, and glared at her.

"Don't tell me this is because Grace had to open the cookie jar for you," Joan said, barely managing to contain her giggles long enough to talk.

"Now is as good a time as any to get in shape," Luke replied nonchalantly while he thought, _So it's Grace, huh? About time I found out what that girl's name is._

"Yeah huh," Joan drawled, clearly not believing him. "Has nothing to do with you thinking she's hot."

"What?' Luke sputtered, in deep denial. "I never said any such thing."

"'It's so **hot** that you know that'," Joan mimicked and made a face at her younger brother.

"I didn't say **she** was hot, I said..." Luke let out an annoyed huff of breath. "Why are we discussing this?"

"Because you so have a thing for Grace," she teased. "Next you'll be bathing in cologne just to impress her."

"I didn't even know her name before tonight," he pointed out, going back to his push ups to hide his slightly pink cheeks.

"But you wanted tooo," Joan sang out as she left the room.

Luke laughed and shook his head at his sister's childish behavoir. He paused mid-pushup, a thoughtful look on his face. He stood and went over to his dresser drawer were he stored all his junk he had no other place for. He dug around for a moment before pulling out a still packaged bottle of aftershave his aunt had given him last Christmas. He pulled it out of the box, uncapped it and cautiously sniffed it. He found himself recoiling slightly at the strong smell, but shrugged and poured a squirt in his hand and rubbed it on generously.


	4. Scent

Title: Scent

Summary: Joan's hat provides Grace much entertainment and Luke apparently showers with Old Spice. Post Touch Move.

"_How can I  
Stand here with you  
And not be moved by you?"_

"_Everything" by Lifehouse_

Grace dropped her bag to the floor and straddled her stool, glancing briefly at her tablemates before directing her gaze forward. The geek was engaged in what appeared to be an intense debate with Friedman and Glynis at the table in front of her. She cautiously took a deep breath in, relieved to find no traces of vomit inducing aroma drifting her way. It seemed the blonde haired boy had come to his senses and ditched the pickled eggs he had been dousing himself in. She chalked it up to temporary insanity; he had after all only worn it a few days. Perhaps quirky behavior ran in the family.

She savored the now fresh air for a moment before she took notice to what Joan was wearing on her head. It was a horribly hideous thing that looked like she had picked up road kill and plopped it on her head. There was a fuzzy little ball on the top that bounced every time she moved. Grace stared at it, almost expecting it to jump up of the girl's head and bite her. Oh, she was going to have fun with this one.

Lishak loudly tapped her pointer on her desk, signaling the class to turn their attention to her. The loud noise caught Grace's attention enough that she spared a glance in that general direction. Her heart skipped a beat and thudded against her chest as she noticed that Luke was not so subtly throwing a glance her way. That usually only happened when she was feeling the rush of skateboarding or tormenting Price, or something to that extent. Scrawny geeks sneaking looks at her was **not** supposed to have any effect on her circulatory system. She frowned slightly, contemplating throwing her ruler at him.

Fortunately, Joan came to her rescue, giving her brother a look only a sibling could give and motioning for him to shove off. The little wave of her hand sent the little fuzz ball on her head bouncing about momentarily and Grace barely suppressed a smirk. Joan turned her attention to the lecture, a slightly blank look in her eyes. Grace pulled a sheet of paper out of her notebook and tore a small strip of paper off. Eyeing the monstrosity of a hat, she rolled the paper into a ball and tossed it at the dead polar bear sitting atop the brown haired girl's head. The paper ball hit its mark and the fuzz ball wobbled humorously above Joan's head.

A full sheet of paper balls later, the bell rang and the sound of students packing up filled the room. Several paper balls rolled off Joan's head as she retrieved her bag from the floor and she frowned as she picked several more from the fur of her hat.

"What the…?"

Grace shrugged in mock innocence and took her chance to exit before Joan could figure out that she'd been putting crap in her hat all period. She was a little too focused on watching the amusing sight of Joan combing tiny balls of paper out of her hat as she walked away, which meant she wasn't paying much attention to where she was going. Luke stood in the middle of the aisle and she collided into him before she could stop herself, her short stature caused her nose to bump straight into the space where his neck met his shoulder.

There was a very confusing moment between the collision and before she pulled away in which her face was pressed into his neck and she unwittingly inhaled the faint scent of his muskiness mixed with a hint of something that smelled like spice, which must have been his soap. It was an almost soothing smell that was definitely nothing like the nasty aftershave he had donned the day before. The surprise of how much she liked the scent had her hesitating a split second before jerking back away from him. She didn't get very far, due to his hands on her waist, which must have been an instinctive effort on his part to steady her.

Luke was trying to stutter out an apology, realizing half way through that he was still holding onto her and dropped his hands away from her right away. She didn't even think to give him crap about being in her way as she hurried past him, determined to get away from his hands and weird, good smell. She ignored the odd tingling sensation at her waist and marched towards the door.

She became suddenly aware that the tingling spots had been where his hands had held onto her waist and she paused at the door, looking back at the boy she had just nearly ran over. He was exchanging some sort of banter with his sister and didn't notice that Grace was still in the doorway, staring at him with a hint of fear in her eyes. A nervous twinge formed in her stomach and she frowned at the sensation. Luke and Joan turned to head towards the door and she quickly ducked out of view, heading to her locker.

_Should have just left him be about the aftershave_, she thought growing more and more perturbed.


	5. Enough

Title: Enough

Summary: Grace has her first revelation about Joan's sanity. Thankfully, Luke is there to help her through it.. Post The Boat.

A/N: I stole the drawstring pants joke from Daria and modified it a little. I know, I'm so unoriginal. I don't care, it made me laugh.

Luke kept his eyes focused on the ground as he listened in on the conversation in front of him as the group of kids filed out of chemistry.

"Where have you been?" Grace was asking his sister. "Did you have the swine flu or something?"

"I was building a boat," Joan said unenthusiastically, letting out one of her famous dramatic sighs. Grace must have given her a strange look, because she continued, "I don't really want to talk about it."

"Okaaay," Grace replied with a hint of amusement, watching Joan rush off down the hallway. Luke slowed down as he passed her, trying to work up the courage to say something to her. If only his mind hadn't blanked out and left him with nothing.

Luckily, for him, she caught his eye as he passed and gave him a confused look, nodding in the direction Joan had just run off to.

"Your sister is completely crazy."

"Tell me something I don't know," Luke responded with a small, somewhat nervous laugh. His palms began to sweat and he forced himself to stop grinning like an idiot as he moved to stand next to her.

"Your parents ever consider an institution?" she asked, her eyebrow raising in a way that indicated she was joking. "I hear shock therapy is quite effective."

"Well, we tried," he told her with a fake heavy sigh. "But Joan had fashion issues with the white drawstring pants, so it didn't really work out."

Grace chuckled, and Luke had to fight not to grin ear to ear at the fact that he had made her laugh. She seemed less intimidating in that moment; somehow that small little deep throated laugh she had given him had somehow made her seem less harsh and in your face, and more like a girl that just might be able to appreciate his intellect and wit. It was fleeting, because now she was leaving his side, heading down the hall, and giving him a small nod in way of a farewell. He found himself trying to hold on to that tiny moment in time with her and called out after her.

"Catch you later, Grace."

Grace froze in the middle of the hall and turned to look at him. She was fully aware that she had never given her name, if the confused wrinkle of her brow was any indication. He shrugged shyly and gave her a small smile, hoping he hadn't ruined whatever connection had formed between them, as little as it may be.

He saw a glint of something in her eyes, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. She didn't quite smile, but it wasn't her usual angry frown either, and she turned, continuing down the hall. Luke stood still for a minute, looking after her, a ghost of a smile still on his face.

It wasn't much, but it was something. That was enough for him.


	6. Company

Title: Company

Summary: Joan's turn for a POV. Grace is freaked, Luke is in deep denial, and Joan gets caught in the middle while innocently trying to eat her lunch. Post Just Say No.

A/N: Inspired by Only Connect:

Grace - Tell your brother to stop looking at me.  
Joan - Grace, we are not doing another year of this. You tell him.

* * *

Adam had left the lunch period early to work on an art project in the art classroom and Grace was probably somewhere off campus by that point, so Joan sat alone out in the quad. She pulled her monster sized, opera of a sandwich out of the plastic bag with a sigh. She hated being alone; it left her with nothing but her thoughts and she hated dealing with those. She wished for company; any company.

She soon rethought that wish when Grace plopped down on the concrete bench next to her, an annoyed look on her face.

"Dude," the blonde girl greeted, the tone of her voice indicating she was about to go off on some kind of rant. Joan looked over at her, mildly exasperated. "Your brother was, like, looking at me today in Chem."

Joan raised her eyebrows as the other girl's eyes darted around, as if she was afraid someone would be listening to them.

"Oh no, he looked at you?" Joan asked in mock horror. "Not that."

Grace shot her a look. "Funny. I mean, he sits _in front of me_. It's not like he can just accidentally look my way. He has to _turn around in his chair_ to even be able to know if I'm back there or not!"

Joan had to fight down the chuckle that wanted to come out at the expense of her lab partner. Grace had to be the only girl she had ever known to get so bent out of shape about a guy _looking_ at her.

"Grace, relax," Joan told her, a slight eye roll accompanying the command. "He just has some weird thing for you. He's not working for the CIA or whatever."

Grace was silent for a moment, and if Joan didn't know better, she could have sworn she saw the leather clad girl blush a little.

"Yeah, that's creepy," Grace finally remarked, looking more than a little freaked out.

"It's just a stupid crush," Joan pointed out with another eye roll. "He's a teenage guy. He'll get over it soon enough and find someone else to fixate on. It's how they work."

Grace frowned slightly. Joan figured she hadn't convinced her just yet, so she tried a different tactic.

"Just make it clear you're not interested, and he'll leave you alone. Best for everyone."

_Even though this little crush thing gives me so much blackmail opportunity_, Joan thought, a slight smirk appearing on her face.

Grace narrowed her eyes, "Right."

"Want some?" Joan changed the topic swiftly, holding out the other half of her sandwich.

Grace stared at the offer for a minute before taking it. Joan smiled a little; the other girl seemed less annoyed now and she had company. Her smile quickly disappeared as Luke approached them.

"Hey," he greeted, giving Grace a tiny, nervous glance. "Can I sit with you guys?"

Joan looked over the girl sitting next to her, awaiting her response. Grace sat very still, not acknowledging she had even heard the question. Joan resisted rolling her eyes and shrugged. Luke shifted uncomfortably, unsure of what to do, until she scooted over and patted the space next her.

As he sat, Grace stiffly handed the sandwich back to Joan. "Not hungry after all."

The siblings watched as she jumped up and hurried off towards the building.

"Something wrong with her?" Luke asked casually, obviously trying to mask the fact that he cared.

"Yeeeah," Joan drawled, giving her brother a pointed look. "You chased her off."

"What did I do?" Luke asked, offended.

"You keep going all stalker-boy on her," Joan informed him. "You kind of freak her out."

Joan felt a twinge of guilt knot up in her stomach as a hurt look flashed across Luke's face.

"I'm just trying to be friendly," he muttered, staring down at his lunch.

"I know," Joan assured. "I think you're just making her paranoid with the staring and stuff. She doesn't need the extra help in that department. I mean, she already thinks the government has her phones tapped."

Joan chuckled at the thought of the militant girl who she had formed a quasi-friendship with and her crazy theories. Even more amusing was the notion that her usually shy and timid brother had a thing for the girl that could more than likely break him in two if he ever pissed her off enough.

"What? I don't stare," Luke insisted stubbornly, even while his cheeks turned a light shade of pink. Joan laughed again and he gave her a mild glare. "I don't."

"Okay, rocket boy," Joan held up her hands in defeat of the subject. "Whatever you say."

Luke sighed and stood from his spot on the bench. "I think I'm going to go get a head start on my homework."

Joan watched her brother walk away, presumably to go to the library, a frown settling over her face.

After dealing with all that drama she was _still_ alone.

"Figures," she muttered to herself, finally settling down to eat her lunch.

A/N: I _am_ going to _attempt_ to write all the way through the end of the show for this, but I make no guarantees. This is pretty much just progressing as ideas come to me. One thing I was hoping to accomplish with this is to fill in the blanks, such as why Luke used the aftershave, etc. If anyone wants something specific that was mentioned on the show elaborated, lemme know in the reviews and I'll attempt.


End file.
